UPDATES FROM ACROSS THE GLOBE ON AFA’S ACTIVITIES, OUTREACH, AWARDS, AND ADVOCACY. Photo by Kip Hansen By June L. Kim, Associate Editor Sen. Lindsey Graham displays his Distinguished American Award, presented to him by the Nation’s Capital Chapter. He’s ﬂanked by AFA President Craig McKinley (left) and Chapter President Bruce VanSkiver. The Nation’s Capital Chapter bestowed its most prestigious honor, the Distinguished American Award, on Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) at the end of July 2014. Bruce A. VanSkiver, chapter president, presented Graham with the award during a ceremony in Washington, D.C. The award recognizes Americans whose leadership in national affairs has been instrumental in protecting the values and traditions of the United States. The chapter chose Graham as its 2014 recipient because his accomplishments in the arena of national defense exemplify those principles. 20 Graham spoke at the ceremony of the external and internal challenges the Air Force is facing. Externally, taskings related to multiple hotspots around the globe are stretching the service. Additionally, emerging threats are proving to be more capable and surfacing at an earlier time than anticipated, he said. Internally, Graham said budget sequestration’s tightening squeeze is significantly limiting the Air Force’s ability to train, maintain, and modernize. Widely viewed as one of the strongest proponents of a robust national defense and a great friend to those in uniform, Graham was clearly quite concerned, and promised to continue fighting and advocating for the Air Force and its sister services in these trying times. Prior to his election to the House in 1994, Graham served on Active Duty for six-and-a-half years as an Air Force lawyer. He left Active Duty in 1989 and joined the South Carolina Air National Guard where he served until 1995. Graham continues to serve his country in the Air Force Reserve as a colonel and is assigned as a senior instructor at the Air Force Judge Advocate General School at Maxwell AFB, Ala. ■ Wingman Magazine ︱ January 2015 Photos via the Society of Illustrators Air Force and New York AFA officials attended an Air Force art exhibit and dinner in Manhattan’s Upper East Side in early September. Hosted by the Society of Illustrators, guests toured its Hall of Fame gallery and took in more than 60 pieces of artwork honoring airmen and aircraft. Approximately 90 guests visited the exhibit that night. The paintings were “retrospective of Air Force art,” said Anelle Air Force and civilian guests who included Iron Gate Chapter representatives dine in the Museum of American Illustration’s Hall of Fame Gallery at the Society of Illustrators in New York City. Behind them hangs artwork depicting Air Force activities. According to its website, the society and similar art organizations have partnered with the Air Force since the 1950s, allowing civilian artists access to military installations. The society donates the resulting artwork every two years to the US Air Force Art Collection. At left is a 1970 painting, “In His Country’s Service—US POWs and MIAs, 1964-1970-?” Names of others in captivity cover the wall behind this POW. Miller, the Society of Illustrators’ executive director. They depicted humanitarian missions, prisoners of war, scenes from war, vintage aircraft, Tuskegee Airmen, and early female aviators. “We get to honor and exhibit to the public our extraordinary 60-year collaboration with the Air Force and focus on our artists who help bring to life what many do not get to witness,” said Miller. The majority of the artists used oil paint, said Christina Dacanay of the Society of Illustrators, but some used acrylic, while others drew by hand. One painting by Maxine McCaffrey, “In His Country’s Service—US POWs and MIAs, 1964-1970-?,” depicts a POW in a cell grappling with his inner demons. It “continues to haunt me,” said Maxine Rauch, AFA’s Northeast Region president. She had learned about the exhibit through Frank Hayes, past president of New York City’s Iron Gate Chapter. Along with Rauch and Hayes, officials from the Air Force Expeditionary Center at JB McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, N.J., and from the base’s public affairs office attended the event. Retired Gen. Raymond E. Johns Jr., former head of Air Mobility Command, was an honored guest. The exhibit ran until mid-October. The Society of Illustrators holds the Air Force art exhibit every two years. It is “a magnificent showcase” of military artwork, said Miller. ■ FEB. 4, 1946 AFA is incorporated in Washington, D.C. This date is observed as AFA’s birthday. Wingman Magazine︱ January 2015 JULY 1946 Air Force Magazine, “The Ofﬁcial Service Journal of the US Army Air Forces” becomes AFA’s ofﬁcial journal. 21 US Space & Rocket Center file photo NEW JERSEY AFA RECOGNIZES TEACHER OF THE YEAR Members of the Tennessee Valley Chapter, along with Alabama AFA State President Russell V. Lewey, met with Deborah Barnhardt, director of the US Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, Ala., to discuss the ongoing partnership between the chapter and center in stimulating aerospace education and honoring the nation’s rich aerospace heritage. At the end-of-July meeting in the center’s boardroom, Chapter President Frederick J. Driesbach pledged the chapter’s continued support by promoting aerospace studies and providing speakers for the center, a world-class museum that hosts one of the most comprehensive collections of US spaceflight hardware in the world. Driesbach thanked Barnhardt for all the USSRC does to advance science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education through programs like Space Camp, Aviation Challenge, and Robotic Camp. Barnhardt talked about plans for expanding the center. Aviation Challenge is one of the museum activities that the chapter supports. A number of chapter members with realworld aviation experience have worked with the instructors and the young and adult participants at the week-long challenge, which features flying simulations, classroom training, and other aviation-related settings to reinforce leadership and teamwork. Chapter member Burke Hare is instrumental in finding new opportunities where AFA and the center can collaborate. He leads the special committee that the chapter established for this purpose. A retired lieutenant colonel, Hare is one of only two Air Force officers inducted in the museum’s Space Camp Hall of Fame. ■ SEPT. 18, 1947 The US Air Force becomes an independent military service as a part of the National Security Act of 1947. 22 Sally Snelson (center) received an AFA certiﬁcate as the Garden State’s Teacher of the Year. State President Howard Leach holds the windbreaker he presented to her. Northeast Region President Maxine Rauch (right) participated in the award ceremony, held during the state convention. Photo via Howard Leach Tennessee Valley Chapter members want to strengthen their partnership with the US Space & Rocket Center. Among its programs, the center hosts Space Camp—several AFA chapters have sent their Teachers of the Year to it—and the Aviation Challenge that gives youngsters like this a chance to “ﬂy.” Sally Snelson, a math teacher from Randolph High School in New Jersey received the New Jersey State AFA’s Teacher of the Year Award during a ceremony at its convention at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst. The award ceremony, held in July, highlighted Snelson’s accomplishments in helping students engage in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics topics. Among the items she received were an AFA certificate, a $500 check, and an AFA windbreaker, said Howard H. Leach Jr., New Jersey State AFA president. Snelson teaches geometry and algebra. In the past, she’s taught computer science, and C++ and Java computer programming. “She makes it a priority to incorporate real-world applications and problems students haven’t seen before to improve the relevance of the work assigned,” said Leach. One year, “students designed and wrote Java programs to play a game that launched projectiles from catapults to land on specific targets,” said Leach. Another time, her geometry students built model skyscrapers. Snelson is also active in AFA’s CyberPatriot competition. She coached two teams in recent years. She graduated from the University of Rochester in New York with a bachelor’s of science degree in mechanical engineering. She’s also earned a bachelor’s of science in mathematical science as well as a master’s of education degree in instructional and curriculum leadership. ■ SEPTEMBER 1951 The US Air Force Almanac makes its debut as the “Anniversary Issue,” including the “Guide to Air Force Installations Worldwide.” Wingman Magazine ︱ January 2015 Photo via MSgt. John De La Rosa Photo via Betsy Gallace If the vintage uniform didn’t catch their attention, perhaps the photo of the B-2 in Air Force Magazine did. In any case, the Whiteman Chapter’s AFA membership table at the Missouri base’s BX had many visitors. The Whiteman Chapter held an AFA membership drive at the base exchange on Whiteman AFB, Mo., in September. The chapter had accomplished so much in giving back to Whiteman’s airmen that MSgt. John De La Rosa, superintendent of aircrew flight equipment for the 509th Operations Group, decided to organize a membership drive. “We needed to get the word out about AFA and the local chapter,” he said. He and seven other volunteers manned a table for four hours a day during the week-long drive and conversed with more than two dozen people each day, he said. They passed out about 150 copies of Air Force Magazine, along with AFA brochures, copies of the 2014 AFA Top Issues document, and membership applications. “This event was a success,” said De La Rosa. “The feedback we got was awesome. Many people were very pleased about how AFA helps our Air Force and how the local chapter is making an impact on Whiteman [Air Force Base] personnel,” he said. ■ Through the Altoona Chapter, these Boy Scouts fulfilled requirements for an Aviation Badge: They visited an airport, flew in the aircraft behind them, built a model airplane, and learned about flight controls. That's Chapter President Tom Baker in the back row, right. The Altoona Chapter of Hollidaysburg, Pa., held its second annual Scout Aviation Day at the Blair County Airport in nearby Martinsburg. The Aug. 15, 2014, gathering saw a sizeable increase in the number of Boy Scouts attending compared to the previous year. The chapter had a turnout of 10 scouts in 2013; this time there were 29. Scout leaders from the local Troop 32 and Troop 43 also attended, and their assistance was greatly appreciated. Five chapter members also assisted in the day’s instruction. JULY 1956 AFA enters the insurance business, announcing the Flight Pay Protection Plan. Wingman Magazine︱ January 2015 The scouts got an aviation lecture during the first two hours, then toured an airplane in four groups. Ashley Sorge, a licensed pilot, conducted the tours, explaining the instruments inside the airplane. The scouts had lunch at the airport. They then built model airplanes to fly in an exercise meant to teach them the different parts of an airplane that are necessary for flight. Sorge then took the scouts up in the aircraft. After that, they went on a guided tour of a World War II-era B-17 Flying Fortress and a P-51 Mustang that had just arrived at the airport. ■ AUGUST 1956 At AFA’s 10th Annual National Convention in New Orleans, the Outstanding Airmen of the Year program is born. 23 USAF photo by SrA. Tabatha Zarrella Cadets of AFROTC Det. 775 hosted Maj. Gen. H. D. Polumbo Jr., 9th Air Force commander, at Shaw AFB, S.C., and CMSgt. Scott A. Fuller, 9th Air Force command chief, on the Air Force’s 67th birthday. Maj. Mark Skalko accompanied Polumbo and Fuller on the Sept. 18, 2014, visit to the University of South Carolina in Columbia. Other guests included Mary Anne Fitzpatrick, dean of the school’s College of Arts and Sciences. Polumbo spoke about his experiences in the Air Force and Maj. Gen. H. D. Polumbo cuts the Air Force anniversary cake with AS100 cadet Joseph Pastore. See more photos of this visit to the Unversity of South Carolina on Shaw Air Force Base’s website, in its Media Gallery. shared his wisdom and advice with the aspiring young cadets. Afterward, he took part in the Air Force ceremony of cutting the birthday cake with the detachment’s youngest cadet. ■ Photo by Michelle Henze Staff photo by Kristina Parrill Left: Association dignitaries dedicated the AFA National office building in Arlington, Va., in the name of aviation pioneer Gen. Jimmy Doolittle during a ceremony on Sept. 12, 2014. From left: then-Chairman of the Board George Muellner, Doolittle’s granddaughter Jonna Doolittle Hoppes, Assistant Vice Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Stephen Hoog, and CMSAF James Cody applaud after the building plaque unveiling. Index to Advertisers AFA Tricare Supplement.....................................Cover II USAA.................................................................Cover IV AFA Member Benefits.................................................39 AFA Membership Application............................Cover III AFA Planned Giving....................................................33 Air Force Memorial.......................................................3 Combined Federal Campaign.......................................9 APRIL 1959 AFA’s World Congress of Flight in Las Vegas is the first international air show in US history. Fifty-one foreign nations participate. 24 Above: Col. John Mammano (right), AFA’s special assistant for Europe, presents an AFA Medal of Merit to his predecessor, David Gouin, at Patch Barracks in Stuttgart, Germany, Nov. 6, 2014. Gouin stepped down from the position in July 2014 after three years. Mammano is US European Command’s deputy command surgeon. “Dave has done a tremendous amount of work for AFA,” commented Mammano. ✪ MARCH 1964 AFA proposes a Sergeant Major of the Air Force, which leads to the first Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force in 1967. Wingman Magazine ︱ January 2015